LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Wednesday said it had charged the director of a airline parts company with fraudulent trading, after planes were briefly grounded worldwide over safety fears.
Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala is accused of operating UK-based AOG Technics for a fraudulent purpose and will appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 2.
The SFO said AOG Technics allegedly defrauded customers, which included airlines, maintenance providers and parts suppliers, from 2019 to 2023 by falsifying documentation relating to aircraft parts’ origin, status or condition.
Several planes were grounded in 2023 after regulators issued safety warnings to airlines who had bought or installed parts from AOG.
SFO director Nick Ephgrave said in a statement: “Planes were grounded, and significant disruption was caused, today’s charges are the outcome of a focussed and fast paced investigation.”
(Reporting by William James and Sam Tobin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
